The Clan Corporate by Charles Stross
Bad judgments and Machiavellian plots...
Sadly, in this third book of the Merchant Princes series, we get a lot of political intrigue but no character growth. In fact, the best thing I can say about The Clan Corporate is that it depicts very, very well, in an almost no-holds-barred manner, the realistic politics that would govern a realm such as that of the Clans and the royal court(s), and that which has been proven true again and again of the United States' bureaucracy and the behavior of various enforcement agencies. There's infighting, outfighting, and just plain fighting. And all of it, physical and mental, is quite brutal.
Unfortunately, Miriam has fallen into the abysmal trap of being one of those "too stupid to live" (TSTL) heroines (or heroes, for that matter) who tend to abound in movies and books. Granted, she's unused to the level of intrigue surrounding her, and she's essentially muddling her way through with one hand tied behind her back, but for a supposedly intelligent woman, she makes astoundingly stupid decisions, in essence jumping in blindly. If the first 2 books have shown anything, it's that she can't afford to leap without thinking or looking.
Going back to the character growth issue: while all the intrigue is going on in Miriam's new world and in present-day USA, you don't really see any true understanding in Miriam of what she thinks she's doing, until she literally gets a sucker punch -- but even then, she's still seems confused. At least in The Hidden Family, you see her cleverness and her grasp of how technology and knowledge can be used to transform the 2 other worlds she's discovered. Her business sense and patent knowledge showcase Miriam to a high degree. And then she devolves to a sullen, sulky twit in The Clan Corporate.
I also have to agree with some of the other reviewers who mentioned the deus ex machina issue. There's the (un)happy coincidence of one of her former flames playing a large role in events of the present-day world. Add some more coincidences, and you have him crossing over to the Clans' world and running into Miriam while death and destruction are raining down on them. Miriam's handed an escape route from a virtually new acquaintance, and her groom-to-be is taken care of swiftly.
Once you add in another abrupt ending, you have all the remains of an unsatisfying read.
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Sadly, in this third book of the Merchant Princes series, we get a lot of political intrigue but no character growth. In fact, the best thing I can say about The Clan Corporate is that it depicts very, very well, in an almost no-holds-barred manner, the realistic politics that would govern a realm such as that of the Clans and the royal court(s), and that which has been proven true again and again of the United States' bureaucracy and the behavior of various enforcement agencies. There's infighting, outfighting, and just plain fighting. And all of it, physical and mental, is quite brutal.
Unfortunately, Miriam has fallen into the abysmal trap of being one of those "too stupid to live" (TSTL) heroines (or heroes, for that matter) who tend to abound in movies and books. Granted, she's unused to the level of intrigue surrounding her, and she's essentially muddling her way through with one hand tied behind her back, but for a supposedly intelligent woman, she makes astoundingly stupid decisions, in essence jumping in blindly. If the first 2 books have shown anything, it's that she can't afford to leap without thinking or looking.
Going back to the character growth issue: while all the intrigue is going on in Miriam's new world and in present-day USA, you don't really see any true understanding in Miriam of what she thinks she's doing, until she literally gets a sucker punch -- but even then, she's still seems confused. At least in The Hidden Family, you see her cleverness and her grasp of how technology and knowledge can be used to transform the 2 other worlds she's discovered. Her business sense and patent knowledge showcase Miriam to a high degree. And then she devolves to a sullen, sulky twit in The Clan Corporate.
I also have to agree with some of the other reviewers who mentioned the deus ex machina issue. There's the (un)happy coincidence of one of her former flames playing a large role in events of the present-day world. Add some more coincidences, and you have him crossing over to the Clans' world and running into Miriam while death and destruction are raining down on them. Miriam's handed an escape route from a virtually new acquaintance, and her groom-to-be is taken care of swiftly.
Once you add in another abrupt ending, you have all the remains of an unsatisfying read.
posted by Tea and Books, etc @ 8/29/2007 03:13:00 PM
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